SHAH ALAM – "I believe my father was a victim of brainwashing, just like other male members of the group.”
This was shared by the daughter of a former top management of Al-Arqam, now known as GISB Holdings Sdn Bhd (GISBH).
On her TikTok account, Sabrina Bolivar posted a series of videos urging the public to take the neglect and sexual abuse claims within GISBH seriously.
She disclosed that she had no intention of bad-mouthing her late father but believed that the public should know what happened within the group.
"I have to make these videos because I am not satisfied that there are still many parties that support this group even though proofs have been disclosed by the authorities, especially proofs of neglect and sexual abuse but there are still many people who support them so I feel like I need to speak up.
"(However), I cannot tell in detail as it is an embarrassment and personal story; I cannot tell everything (publicly). I just want to say that there has been abuse on children and women (within the group), that’s all I want to disclose,” she said in one of the videos.
Revealing why she had never eaten at any eateries linked to GISBH, she said that since she was young, she heard the stories about how the devotees prepared food using water to soak Al-Arqam’s founder Ashaari Muhammad or Abuya’s feet.
In another video, she also disclosed how the home that she was raised in within the deviant community had dirty toilets, which also contributed to the trauma she felt even now that she had grown up.
"It is not my intention to call for a boycott on Muslim business or restaurants but I feel like we need to take action if there is a neglect of children and women happening in this group as what happened to me and my family when I was younger,” she said.
While explaining how she was traumatised as a child due to her father being involved in the group, Sabrina also revealed that her father learned religion and always reminded her to pray and recite dzikir, but he had never taught her the deviant teachings.
"He never taught me the deviant teachings as he knows I am sensitive. Maybe to other siblings the teaching was taught, but not me because he understands that we have left the group and does not support the devotion to Abuya,” she said.
In another video, Sabrina revealed that she had 28 siblings as her father married four women, with her mom being the fourth wife.
Her mother, she said, was a former medical student from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) but was was forced to join Al-Arqam because she was interested to learn more about religion, which led to her to being influenced to get married when she was only 22.
She married one of Al-Arqam member, but the marriage lasted for only six months before she remarried Sabrina’s father.
Unknowing to her, it was a polygamous marriage and Sabrina claimed her mother was bullied by the other wives to take care of the stepchildren.
Now that police had conducted a nationwide crackdown against GISBH members in an operation codenamed ‘Op Global, Sabrina expressed her hope for women and children who had been mistreated within the group to be saved.
"I hope more women can be saved... Women and children who have been neglected and I hope parents in the group will repent and can conduct business in the correct Islamic way, does not neglect their children, take care of their children,” she said.
Op Global was conducted following revelations of Malaysia Center for the Study of Heresy (PUKAS) of the alleged heresy activities in GISBH in August, followed by Perlis Mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin who raised the issue of violence and cruelty associated with GISBH which requires investigation and intervention by the authorities.
On Sept 11, police raided 20 charity houses believed to belong to GISBH in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan and arrested 171 individuals to help investigate cases of child and religious exploitation.
Police revealed that a total of 402 individuals, 201 male and 201 female aged between one and 17 years old, were rescued in the operation.
GISBH issued a statement denying allegations that they exploit children as workers and stated that they will not compromise with activities that violate the law, especially involving children.
Since Sept 18, several GISBH members were remanded over various offences including sexually abusing children, criminal intimidation, human trafficking and sexual assault.
Today, the Perlis State Fatwa Committee declared that the beliefs and teachings in GISBH contain elements of heresy, especially inner teachings.